LGPS - pensions increase. Confused.

ouraggie

Hi. I am trying to understand how my LGPS pension works. I have made a lot of progress (from a zero start) but …..i have just received my 2026 benefit statement. I’m a deferred member. It says this:

Does this mean my annual pension will actually be £21,140.79 ? And my lump sum will be £8,026.10?
Also, in 2025 my annual pension was £16,148.00 and now it seems to have gone down to £15,650.42. Is that correct? I now notice this happened in some previous years too.
Thanks in advance for any enlightenment i receive.

Silvertabby

No, your pension is £15,560.32 and your lump sum is £14,905.22. The pension reduction from last year is more of a puzzle - when did you leave the LGPS?

ouraggie

thank you, Silver Tabby. I did think it was too good to be true! In that case, Can i ask, what actually IS that £5,490.37 “Pension Increase”? Why is it on my statement?

I left 31st March 2015, so i have mostly FS , but a bit of CARE.

It may not be relevant, but in March 2015 i paid a £9k lump sum into this pension from my redundancy payment. Could this have anything to do with it?

daveyjp

It is probably easier to call the pension provider snd ask them as they have all your membership details to hand,

Silvertabby

£5,490.37 should be the total amount of pension increases applied to your pension since 2015. That said, it looks a little high. Do you still have your original deferred statement, issued just after you left? If you do, was your pension then just over £10K? It may be linked to your £9K payment, but I would check with your administrators. If it's wrong, best to find out now rather than later.

The most obvious reason for the reduction is that your LGPS had to recalculate your benefits after receiving revised information - but the only way to find out for sure will be to ask your LGPS administrators.

ouraggie

hi, yes i do. The total annual pension was £12,007.31 at that point. The lump sum was £10,629.41. My £9k apparently bought me £800.17pa in additional pension.
i am going to ring them and see what they say. I just feel rather unintelligent saying i can’t understand it.
thank you for the info.

Silvertabby

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82035560#Comment_82035560

£12,007.31 in 2015 to £15,650.42 in 2026 sounds more like it, but that doesn't explain the £5,490.37 pension increase figure.

Don't worry about asking for an explanation - it's what your LGPS administrators do !